title: Enhancement of broadband optical absorption in photovoltaic devices by band-edge effect of photonic crystals.
abstract: We numerically investigate broadband optical absorption enhancement in thin, 400-nm thick microcrystalline silicon (µc-Si) photovoltaic devices by photonic crystals (PCs). We realize absorption enhancement by coupling the light from the free space to the large area resonant modes at the photonic band-edge induced by the photonic crystals. We show that multiple photonic band-edge modes can be produced by higher order modes in the vertical direction of the Si photovoltaic layer, which can enhance the absorption on multiple wavelengths. Moreover, we reveal that the photonic superlattice structure can produce more photonic band-edge modes that lead to further optical absorption. The absorption average in wavelengths of 500-1000 nm weighted to the solar spectrum (AM 1.5) increases almost twice: from 33% without photonic crystal to 58% with a 4 × 4 period superlattice photonic crystal; our result outperforms the Lambertian textured structure.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Yosuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawamoto
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noda